Neighbors: Marie Garafano

Marie Garafano tells that same thing to all of her students: “If you should learn to draw, first you must learn to see.” It’s something an old art teacher once told her. In fact, that same art teacher was the one who encouraged her to pursue art as a career.

Garafano went to Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts) and worked as a freelance designer and illustrator for children’s books, pamphlets, newsletters and other odds and ends along the way. One children’s book she illustrated, “Ginger Goes on a Diet,” sparked a group’s interest in Garafano, and she was asked to lead a workshop on watercolor. From there she fell into teaching.

“It seemed to be a natural thing for me to do,” she says.

Garafano wears a flowing purple, green and black floral-print dress that looks like a watercolor painting itself. She speaks a mile a minute, pausing just briefly enough to break into a big ,humble smile.

“I’m a bubbly person, but my paintings are so quiet, so it’s a real dichotomy,” she says.

A minute later this “dichotomy” is proven, when she points to a tranquil still life of white china with blue florals painted on it.

“This is my favorite, I like the way the light hits the china,” she says. “I always look for a spiritual element, like how the light creates a feeling.”

Currently, Garafano teaches classes at Art Center Manatee, the Longboat Key Education Center, and two classes at an assisted-living facility; she will soon be teaching a collage-making class at Anna Maria Art League.

“I adore teaching; it’s just wonderful,” she says.

She’s learned a lot about people through teaching. There was one student in a continuing education class whose work was always left unfinished.

“We came to understand she was just afraid to be judged,” Garafano said.

Her method is teaching from real life, and a lot of times she requires her students to draw from still lifes and photographs. She encourages her students to paint their own way — though technique can be important. For her own works, she looks for the sublime in the ordinary.

“It’s more than a cursory glance,” she says.

One of her pieces represents Floridian flora and fauna true to form, but is enhanced with an abundance of color. It emphasizes the way the light hits the leaves of the palms.

The only time she slows down when speaking is to process her feelings for art. She looks pensive for a moment, with eyebrows furrowed, then sums up her thoughts.

“I think (art) elevates the spirit and takes us to a higher place,” she says. “It’s through art that we learn to appreciate the world around us.”

Her mostly watercolor works hung at All Angels by the Sea Episcopal Church gallery through the month of November, but other works have been displayed at the Longboat Key Center for the Arts, a Division of Ringling College of Art and Design; Art Center Manatee; The Village of the Arts; and Anna Maria Artists Guild.